If you put the acronym ‘OUSA’ and the word ‘referendum’ together, many of you will likely fall asleep, I totally understand that. For most the lure of free pizza isn’t even enough to tempt you into sitting through the upcoming forum (22 May) and, having had to cover the forum for Critic over the last couple of years, I appreciate why! Just 15 percent of you voted in the May 2016 referendum, a sizeable improvement on October 2015’s participation rate - which sat at just 4 percent.
Every now and then we have a referendum where there is a genuinely vital question included that requires a huge student response to do the importance of the topic justice. This is one of those situations, because the final question on the referendum will be: Should OUSA oppose the implementation of CCTV monitoring of the student residential area by the University of Otago?
By adding this question at the last minute, the OUSA Executive are seeking a mandate from the students on whether to approve or oppose this plan to introduce large scale surveillance to North Dunedin. In case you missed it last week, the University of Otago will be implementing 60 CCTV cameras all around North Dunedin, from Heriot Row to Harbour Terrace and from Castle Street North to Frederick Street, a ‘surveillance suburb’ if you will.
Despite the jury being out on whether they’re effective in reducing crime in any significant way, the university has budgeted $1.27 million for the initiative. Once this CCTV surveillance is in place, it will likely never be withdrawn or downscaled; they’ll be here to stay for good.
I understand that Russell Brand told you not to engage in voting because the system is broken and you may have exhausted your daily quota of politics by flicking through memes of Donald Trump with frogs drawn onto his face (if you haven’t seen it, take a look), but this really is too important to miss out on.
The University clearly don’t consider the views and concerns of students to be very important at all, because they have agreed upon this plan before the students en masse have had any say, and, although they say they are listening to students’ views and concerns, they have made it clear that there are no more procedural impediments to this plan going ahead.
If you’re in your final year of your degree and think that because you’re leaving Dunedin soon it won’t affect you in any way, I urge you to think about your university years and whether it’s in the interests of future students to have 24-hour CCTV surveillance. If you’re in your first semester, simply weigh up whether the advantages of surveillance outweigh the disadvantages – go and speak to OUSA President Hugh Baird and the other members of the OUSA Executive to gain clarity, it’s a very complex issue.
Seeing as you can vote in two minutes from the comfort of your bed, you have no excuses.
Joe Higham
Critic Co-Editor